Improvement in knitting-machines



- To `all to whom these presents shall come:

@anni @Win12,

HENRY BATcHFonn sou'nnnn; on NEEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

`Letters Patent No, 100,810, elated vMarch 15, `1870.

i IMPnovnMnNT-IN KNITTING-Maemlvns.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

Be it known thatI, HENRY BAToHJsoRD SGUDDER, of Needham, inthe county of Norfolk, and'Commonwealthiof Massachusetts, have made an invention of certain new and useful4 Improvements in Machinery for KnittingLoopedv Fabrics; and'do hereby declare i the following to bea full, clear, and exact description thereof, due reference being had to the accompanying drawings making `part of this specification, in which- Figure1isaplaii;. v, Figure 2, a front elevation;

Figure 3, a verticaland transverse section of portions oi' av knitting-machine embracing my improvement Figure 4 is a plan; and n l Figure 5, an elevation of a portion of the mechanism to be described; A Figure 6 being an end elevation of its suspensory.

llie invention `comprising the subject-matter@of these Letteisatent is au improvement in machinery for knitting looped fabrics of the class known 'as plane knitting-machines, my invention heilig in the present instance adapted more especially to machines for knitting drawers, sleeves, and hose, and in which the traveling needles, Vtransferring selvage prongs, or instruments andthe needle-bed with their Vappurtenances, are -so arranged and organized that such needles are upheld and point in a perpendicular" drection, and are moved, in the process of producing the fabric, to and fro in the direction of their longest axes,

and somewhat at right angles thereto, as well as the garment or fabric produced passing in a horizontal plane.

'lhe class of machines I have herein lreferred to,-

wherewith to exhibit my invention, is to contain two seriesoi barbed needles and two series of sinkers to operate in the formation of loops from yarn, laid on or presented toc the needles by carriers, and to make, `at one and the 'same time, two pieces. ofl work or fabric, formed npon'opposite sides of the centre of such machine, so that, for instance, one leg and half the body of a pair of drawers may be knit o n one half of the machine, while another such leg and portion of the body are being knit upon the opposite halfvof the machine. l

I do not, however, limit the machine' to a restricted number oi' such divisions, since it may possess them in plurality to vary its effective capacityfor producing work, each piece of work, however, being producedby like means.

The herein-described invention relates to means whereby the act of widening and narrowing or fashioning of the fabric is to a certain extent governed by the machine automatically, the advantages to be derived from the adoption thereof being a more peraway from them I fect fabric than has' yet been produced, combined with areduction in the cost of such production, owing to economy of manual labor, and to some extent of sav- ,ing of material.

A`special instance of the class of knitting machine ry to which my invention is applicable is shown` and described in Letters l'atentv of the Kin gdom of Great.

Britain, No. 3,123, and issued on'the 16th day of December, 1864, to' William Cotton, of Longborough,

Leicester, England, aswell as in -Letters Patent of the United States of America, issued for the s'ame invention and to the same inventor, on the 20th day of November, v 1866.

Asnotonly the construction and organization of such machine, but its operations and the nature of the fabric produced `by it are elaborately described and exhibited in such vLettersPgatent and 'as my inventionV relates not to extended changes in its generalform or characteristics, but only to local'and simple application of 'devices for governing details of said machine, I shall not dilate -upon its principles in general,or its prodnctions,"except4 in so far as may be found conducive to the full understanding of the nature and pur.- poses of my present improvement.

Although my present invention, herein toy be described, is, as before premised, especially adapted to enables the machine to effect automatically this fash-V ioning of the fabric, according to a given and predetermined form' or size, becomes of importance.

' My invention then in detail, but not in principle, relates to certain devices connected directly with the wiper-cam, ratchet-wheels, and clawkers,` which, in Cottons machine, produce, by intervening devices hereinafter explained, the movements of the fashioning instrumentalities, and consists in the employment of a horizontal ratchet-wheel disposed below the firstnamed ratchet-wheel, and provided with an oscillating depressing-lever, and a lifting-spur or grade for elevating the clawker and diseugaging it from the fashioning mechanism to cease the operation of fashioning, as well as combining therewith a holding-up catch and a releasing-bolt, the latter acting in conjunction with a traveling endless chain or belt to release the i clawker, Iwhich has' been previously thrown up out of work by the agency of' the lifting-ratchet and lever before mentioned, incidental details of these devices being in due time alluded to.

As the ratchet and suspensory last referred to effect at proper and given times the disengagement of the clawkers or pawls, and, as a consequence, the cessation of the widening or narrowing of the fabric, as the case may be, therefore, to each individual pattern and size of fabric to be knit upon the machine, a corresponding ratohet-wheel and chain or belt are adapted, and are applied to the machine prior to beginning the knitting ot' the article, the resultant advantage being that the fashioning of the fabric becomes self-regulated and continuous, and not dependent upon manipnlation and constant attendance on the part of the operator, thus enabling me to employ a much less expensive class of help.

TheIportion of' the mechanism which, in Cottons original machine above mentioned, effects the laying or delivery of the yarn to the needle, in order to effect fashioning7 of the fabric, is by my invention forced into and out of action by the agency, primarily, of the wipers or studs fixed to the endless chain or belt, and of the lifting-spurs or sloping grades-of the horizontal ratchet, the various details of the mechanism,

which in the aggregate embody my improvements,

being so organized, and the effects of the chain being such that, in the intervals of time between the action `of said ratchet, chain, and their accessories, the mathe chain, and the greater the number of the liftingslopes of the ratchet, the greater will be the extent of the straight portion of the work, since it is by the agency of these wipers and grades that the rotations of the wiper-cam, which effects end on movements of the fashioning or bowlshaft, are effected.

W'e have now seen that the action of the ratchet and its lifters throw the clawkers or pawls ont of work and allow the machine to knit a fabric of uniform width, while the action of the wiper fixed upon the chain is such as to force the pawl into engagement with the ratchet, and by means of the wiper-cam put into action the fashioning mechanism. Therefore, in order to produce the various portions of garments knit upon a machine to which my invention is applied,

we have either to vary by some means the number of wiper-studs upon the chain, or to provide an individual one for each form and size of fabric.

I prefer to accomplish the former, as I can without difficulty adapt an endless chain of suicient length to contain all the studs that may be found necessary for any form or size of fabric, these studs to be applied or removed in number and manner according to need, it being understood that present experiments induce me to adopt an individual ratchet-wheel for each different form and size of fabric, though future experience may determine this tobe unwise or unnecessary.

In the drawings attached to this specification, andv which will be found to illustrate my invention, I have represented only such parts of' a knitting-machine as are necessary to enable mechanics of good acquirements to produce and put into practical operation such invention.

In the following description I shall confine myself', without extreme qualification, to the use of' terms generally adopted by knitters to designate the various parts of the machine, since it is to such persons mainly that this specification is addressed; and I would call the readers attention to the fact that I have considered it necessary to show the adoption of but one ratchet-wheel and pawl or clawker as it is termed by the craft, since vany multiplication of such parts will be readily apparent to skilled persons, and the explanation of one Will suffice for a plurality.

Persons of experience will at once understand that, as the number of teeth composing in aggregate the periphery of the upright ratchet determines the number of` courses between 'the times of action of the fashioning instruments, variations in the number of these teeth will cause corresponding variations in the shape of the fabric.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that A A denote the two upright standards which constitute the end portions ofthe frame of a knitting-machine, these standards being united at top by a flat longitudinal bar or rail, B, and at bottom by one or more rods or braces C O, after the manner' substantially of several knitting-machines. now in operation, the traveling-needles, selvage-prongs and their adjuncts, being disposed above and in rear of the rail B, in manner as will be readily understood by persons conversant with such machines, these component parts of a machine being abbreviated in length .for obvious reasons of economy in space, in thedrawings.

The driving-shaft of the machine is shown at D, as supported in suitable bearings E E affixed to the upper front part of the standards A A', the outer and left extremity of this shaft carrying a pinion, F, which engages with and drives a spur-gear, G, which in turn is affixed and imparts a rotary motion to the main or tappet shaft, shown at H in the drawings, this latter shaft having suitable boxes fixed to the inner part of the standards A A, and vertically about midway thereof.

Rotations of the pinion and driving-shaft in one direction impart revolution to the gear G and tappetshaft in a contrary direction, such paths of revolution being indicated by the arrows thereon.

I denotes thebowl or shaggingshaft, supported in bearings b b, att-ached to the end standards of the machine-trame, this shaft I being a rocker-shaft, and disposed somewhat below and slightly in advance of the tappet-shaft H.

Rockings of this shaft I are effected by a nodding arm orlever, c, which has vertical vibrations imparted to it by a wiper-cam or depressing hub, d, making part of' and disposed-along side of a ratchet-Wheel, e, such cam and ratchet revolving iu unison with intermittent rotations caused by the horizontal reciprocations through the are of a circle of a pawl or -claw' ker, f, suspended and actuated as hereinafter cxplained.

.A horizontal rod or spur, y, extends laterally from the free. end of the nodding lever c, and i'mpinges against the periphery of the wiper-cam d, against which it is held by the action 0f. a spring, h, arranged as shown in fig. 3 of the drawings.

One complete revolution ofthe cam (l, imparted to it by the repeated reciprocations of the clawker f, brings its enlargement orwiper t' in contact with the rod g, and, by depressing the lever c, advances the upper and free end of a vibrating arm or support, j, which is secured, immovably at its lower end, to the rockershaft I, the said upper and free end of this arm j carrying an inwardly-projecting start or journal, It, upon which is mounted an anti-friction'roller or bowl, Z.

lThis outward movement of' the lever and its bowl forces the latter into contact with,or subjects it alternately .1;0, the action of one of the two inclined or arched grades or tappets m n, oppositely disposed upon the rocker-shaft, and embracing the bowl l, but

not in longitudinal alignment, since the bowl, and

with it the arm j and rocker-shaft I, is to be pushed endwise alternately by each tappet, which would not be the case were they otherwise disposed.`

The depression outward of the free extremity of the arm j, caused by the nodding or lowering of the arm or lever c, throws thc bowl l into contact with the tappet m, while the revolution of this tappct,

through a circle, produces an endwise movement of the rocker-shaft in one direction. y i

Simultaneous with the escape ofthe bowl from 'the `tappet m, the 4wiper t' of the cam :l passes by the rod g, and allows the lever c to beraised .by the action of.

its spring, thus releasing the bowl from the action of the tappet m, and throwing it into the path of revolution of the tappet a, which isadvan'cing to meet it, and which impinges against it after it leaves theface of .the tappet m. ,The interval-of timeduring which the cam iis passing over without actuatinglthe 4arm y length of the cam ldetermines `the exten'tgof time at which the fashioning instruments lshallflbeat work,- since, by controlling theitime during which thebowl is kept from contact with thetappet u, it also controlsthe time 'of action of such "instruments,whose" labor-stare directly dependent upon the functions of the said tappet n. s

'lhe above-described grouping and construction of parte are substantially, it'4 not identically, synonymous `with the machineyof Cotton, before .referred to, and

Vas exhibitedinihs patent, and so farY containfno points of noveltypeculiar to myself, `itbeing`borne in mind that when it becomes necessary to putinto operation the fashining mechanism in order to widen vor narrow the fabric, the. attendant is obligedto release and lower the clawlier or clawkers intoconnection with the ratchet, and when the fashioning is completed to raise the clawker from contact with the ratchet; this act, aud the necessary jlulgment,requir ing the undivided time and attention of ancxperienced knitter, and one who requires high wages.

To etfect the engagement and disengagement of the clawkers at the propertime, and, consequently, toV

govern automatically7 the fasbioning devices, is, as has been hereinbefore premised, the purpose of this invention, and I will now proceed to explain the mode I have adopted 'of carrying ont such object, `this specilication thus far having been restrictedto the der` seription of a portion of Oottonsgmachiue. l

It is evident that, from the endwise or reciprocatii'ig` rectilinear motions of the rocker-shaft :[fmay easily obtain an intermittent rotary motion; therefore, I disf ing, at its front extremit;l which extends beyond the periphery of the ratchet, a spring pawl, s, which is properly pivotcd to it, such pawl engaging with the teeth of the said ratchet, as represented. y

The inner and rear extremity of the carrier-bar r is pivotcd, in a suitable manner, to the rocker-,shaft `I or an arm projecting therefrom, and so that endwise reciprocatlons of such shaft shall produce partial rotations of the ratchet inthe direction of its arrow', such ratchet heilig further provided wit-l1 a second and holdfast pawl, t, pivotcd to the bracket q, for the purpose of preventing any-retraction of the said ratchet. v To .the upper face of the ratchet-wheel o I affix a series of liftinggrades or sloping studs, such lifters being represented in the accompanying drawings at fu, the working-face of each lifter receding ina direction contrary to that traveled by the ratchet.

le, 'in the drawings, denotes a horizontaldepressinglever.'surmonnting the ratchet-wheel 0, and with its shOrterarm, w, curved and resting upon the surface of the-same, the opposite and longer'arm of the lever ubeing extended longitudinally of the machine,V and having a right-angular termination, x, which extends, in a rearward direction, below the cam block or wipercam d before alluded to,the extremity of this lateral bend :t bein'gpivoted or swiveled by a rod, la?, to the outer and'shorter arm y of a second oscillating. horizontal lever or lilik, z, which, in its turn, is mounted upon a projection or bracket, a1,reaching.iiiward from the end standard A of the machine frame and in rear of the wiper-cam, the altitude of this lever z being about equal to the upper surface of the vertical ratchct-whcel c, in order that it may abut against the under surface of the pawl or clawker f.

j This yclawker'f is pivotcd in the usual manner at its rear end to a horizontal shaft, b, which, in turn, projects inward over the ratchet-wheel c from a swinging or pendulous rod or arm, c', suspended froma stud oijjournalfcl, arranged above the shaft b, and substantially "in vertical alignment therewith, the` desiredlpendulous movem'ents of the said rod c', in one directiombeing obtained by the agency of a tappet or ,wipcr, e,rfixed to the tappetlshaft H ofthe machine, snchptappet impinging against a roller, f', mounted uponxthe free extremity of the shaft b1, the retractions of the rod c' being effected by the action of a spring, g, one end of which is made fast to its lower part, and the opposite end secured to the opposite or near side of. the lstandard A. ,Y

Endwise reciprocations of the rocker-shaft I, by instrumentalities before explained, produce intermittent movements of the ratchet o, until one of its litters, u, impinges against-and elevates the shorter arm of Vthe `leven c, which, of necessity, effects the depression of its longer arm, and by actuating the lever z' raises its outer ,armianclfwith it: the clawkerf out of engagement with the ratchet e, and to such an altitude that it is locked to a spring catch-bar', It', which is suspended over it'fromv the pendulous support c', the clawker being so formed or provided I as to cling to this catch until released by force, in manner to be cxplained, the `longer arm of the'lever o rising to itsnormal4 position immediately after the lpassage of the l'lifter Vpast its shorter arm,

The mode of automatic"disengagement ofthe'claw- "ker and ratchet, and the ensuing cessation of the action of the fashioning devices having been understood, `it now remains to provide a means by which to effect the engagement of the clawker f with the ratchet e, y in' order to bring the fashioning instrumentalities into riar-4 To this end, and in furtherance of the purpose of my invention, I mount a sprocket-wheel, t', upon a A, such wheel being situated at the rear upper corner of such standard, and provided, upon its outer face, with a serrated or toothed feed-wheel, k', lixed to it, such wheels being driven together by a pawl, Z, which engages with the latter, this pawl being pivotcd to the inner and free end of a vibrating arm, lm', the opposte end ofy such arm being mounted upona rockershaft,'J. This shaft is the sinkingshaft, `s'o called,

horizontal stud, j', projecting inward from thc standard of the machine, and which is supported in bearings vor boxes applied to the extreme upper front .corners of the standard A A'.

ltocliings of the shaft- J induce intermittent partial revolutions of the sprocket-wheel upon its axis, such rocking's being effected by a pendent swinging arm, n', hanging or suspended from such shaft and fixed to it, the lower end of this arm carrying a. roiler or bowh o', which impinges against the periphery of an oblong tappet, pmtixed tothe main tappet-shaft H of the machine, and alongside of the tappet in, hereinbefbre alluded to, the returns of this arm n being produced by a springt", applied as represented in the drawings.

Traveling about and carried by the wheel i is an endless chain or belt, a4, this chain being provided, upon its outer face, with a series of spurs or wipers, s' s, &c., disposed equidistaut from each other, and being applied thereto in such number as to correspond tothe number of sloping litters upon thc ratchetwheel o, since the oiiee of these wipers is to release the clawker after each successive elevation by means of such ratchet or step-by-step wheel.

The wipers or studs s' s', &c., impiuge, in succession, against the rear end of a bolt, t', which plays in a long; vibrating clasp or plate, n', secured to the inner" face of the swinging arm c', before mentioned as earrying the clawker or clawkers f, such clasp being dis posed at right angles to the length of the machine, as represented.

-This clasp or plate carries between its ends w yw2 a helical or spiral spring, su', which also encompasses thebolt t', and by bearing against a collar, y', formed upon the rear end of the latter, serves to force the bolt rearward toward or against the endless chain o.

The impact of one of the wiper-studs, carried hy the endless chain against the rear end of the bolt t', slides such bolt and releases the clawker f, thus allowing it to fall upon and engage with the ratchetwheel e with results before explained.

As the bolt t' moves with the swinging arm to which it is attached, it preserves at all times the same relationship thereto, and consequently is ready for action upon the clawker when it may be necessary.

masia By means of the above-described arrangement of devices, embodying my invention, it will he apparent that the fashioning of the fabric may be automatically governed, presupposing, of course, that the nunrber ot' spurs upon the endless chain or belt is arranged with reference to the litters of the ratohet'o,

and both chain and ratchet arranged and -appliedto n the machine with due regard to the character of the Claims.

1. The ratchet-wheel o, and its liftiiw-grades u u, and the endless chain ai, or its equivalent, provided with the spurs or wipers s' s', the'said ratchet -and chain being combined with mechanism, substantialiy as described, for imparting their action to the tfashioning devices of the machine for the purposes set orth.

2. The ratchet-wheel o and its lifting-gradcs u il, the lever t', and lever y z, in combination with pawl f, and its detaining-spring,r h', for throwing the fashioning-mechanism out of action.

3. The combination and arrangement of the ratchet-wheel o, with its lifting-grades u yu, andactnating deyices, the depressing-lever fu, connected with the lever s, as explained, the chain or suspensory a, with its studs s s', 85e., carried by the sprocketfwheel or its equivalent, suitably driven, and the sliding bolt t', such parts being combined with the clawker or clawkers f, cam-block d, ratchet e, and shafts I and 1I, with their appurtenances, and the whole operating to produce results hereinbefore explained.

HENRY B. SOUDDER.

Witnesses FRED. CURTIS, Cuts. E. Cnnsrnn. 

